Forsaken Soldiers
by Divinitas Intereo
Summary: When the worlds rule changed dramatically from the democratic way that had been chosen after the 196 Eve war, the Organization quickly struck and took over the world. Again starts the Waltz...
1. Running

They were running

They were running. They had been running for a long time it seemed now. How could it have really come to this? It had seemed that the pacifism which had been discussed so long ago had been about to become a reality, and yet here they were in this lost a once again plagued world: running. He hated running. There was no honor in this weak thing. If not for who they were protecting by running, he would have long since given up on the run and turned to share the fate that had taken the other soldiers who had been with him at the time; so much for a preventing society.

It had been a long campaign to even be able to run, and as most of them thought back on it, the singular view of their comrade had not kept them from doing it. It had all been out spoken before, and had been overruled that they should fight this time instead of run: that might have been a better choice. The Neo Faction of The Zodiac was not as forgiving as their former existence had been. NFZ had taken it upon them to have personally handled the execution of the 5 scientist; only three years after the war had ended.

Running seemed easy to do; indeed it was the most logical thing to do. Heero kept his eyes sharp and let nothing pass his gaze, although they most likely did not know what direction they had gone in there could still be anyone out there. Abandoning the car had been one of the things that had saved their life, yet it might have been good—seeing as what the aftereffect had been. Even with her in his arms it didn't slow him. More likely it seemed to the other five to speed him along. Quatre, Duo, and Trowa all watched—while running. Wufei paid no attention at all: Yuy had always been able to do abnormal things: especially when it came to that woman.

Heeros' stoic gaze was not wasted on anything. Every now and again he would peek down at the woman he held in his hands bridal style. She was still semi-unconscious. That had been more his fault than anything else—or that was how he saw it. If he had been watching her when she had fallen she wouldn't have had the chance to hit her head. The others could see it plain on his face—though stoic, that he blamed himself for it.

"That's enough," Quatre looked around as they came into a secluded part of the place. "We have been running for well over an hour; if I'm right they won't know we are even in this direction."

A little huffing came from him as he stared around him. The surrounding area was filled with trees. A clearing right by a river, the road was not too far off either. That was the trick to this escape. They had expected them to escape cross country—jungle. Traveling near the road had thrown them for a loop.

"Well now, I should be the one to take the credit for that;" A sheepish grin was on Duo's face; one that would make a cheshire cat jealous. "Victoria was pretty easy to set up. No sooner than I pushed the buttons were we able to leave."

"That's because the person who was leading them was a woman." No one reacted to the sexist comment that was made. It seemed to be the usual mundane thing for the pony tailed man to say. "And also, I was the one who had originally blown this, so I'm the one to thank for that stunt." Wufei smiled a little at his small victory over Duo, whose once triumphant face now mixed embarrassment into it. "I'm still the one who set the bombs off." A small, usual comeback for the self proclaimed Shinigami.

"It's pretty much pointless who set the bombs off, and who blew the place in the first place. Stopping now would be a good idea however." A small shift in the usually silent warrior's head that pointed towards Heero and Relena was all the other Pilots needed before they began to sit down. Trowa didn't say much, but when he did, it was usually worth saying.

Heero, who was still standing, and who had gotten a little ways—enough not to hear the argument between the others, carefully set down Relena before taking off into the woods. Duo jumped and began to follow. "Heero, where ya going?" Usually the only one to ever be crazy enough to bother the perfect soldier, he was only a little bothered when that classic death glare looked at him. "Hey now, none of that; I was only asking."

Glaring at him a little more, Heero turned put his concentration on where he was going. The stream was not far away, and they were in a prime spot. Shade cooled the water below, and it looked cleaner than most rivers were. Not wasting anytime he grabbed a water bottle that had been hanging from his shoulders and dipped it into the water, letting the cool liquid pour into the canteen.

"Well, you know you could have just said you were going to get water, I mean it's not like we're enemies or something." The offhand remark drew no glace from Heero as he made his swift way back to the place where she was.

Upon returning he had noted that they had some wood ready for a fire, and Wufei was already at work lighting it. The smoke wouldn't be noticed; not with the others all around. An odd stand had been made here at Victoria, so if anyone saw smoke, they would most likely account it too a mobile suit that had been shot down.

Without saying a word to anyone he quickly returned to Relena, who was being cared for by Quatre. Tossing Quatre the water, he finally opened his mouth. "She's not hurt badly. And we should only rest here for a moment. Zechs and Noin will be waiting for us at the base." Another quick look around seemed to satisfy him. "If you guy's did your jobs right, then no one should have any reason to return to the Lake Victoria base."

The other shed him a quick look before they went back to doing what they were doing. I had been a classic escape. Out before anyone had even guessed where they would be going. The NFZ had already deserted the base, Relena had been the last one there, and with some body guards to make sure that their "Pickup" went smoothly. Bodyguards had not been enough.

No sooner had Heero caught on that she had been kidnapped again he had jumped strait into the fire. Luckily Quatre had been with him at the time; if not he would have come and made sure that Relena had been the only one to have escaped that place. As Duo had once said to them, "Anything at all for the one you love." Heero seemed to take that phrase to the next level.

Staking out the place for a couple of hours had been a breeze, and executing the plan had been easy. What had gotten them was the escape. Originally the plan had been to steal whatever transport had been planned to take Relena. Realizing that this would have been a bad idea, Duo—whose brains had been on the mission instead of food, came up with the idea to make them think they had stolen the plane. Dorothy and Sally should be landing the thing sometime in the next hour, and meeting up with them at Victoria.

Having sent the pursuit on a wild goose chase, Zechs and Noin had returned to Victoria to make sure that all was secure. The others had gone running. When they were the most wanted people in the entire universe, what else could be done? Hiding themselves had been a breeze; but when the Vice Foreign Minister had been kidnapped, they knew it was time for them to come out of their seclusion.

She had fought a long fight to see if the pilots of the 195 wars would be pardoned for their "treasons" against Oz, more like against the Rommerfeller Foundation. It had long been rumored that the only reason she had been tolerated was because of her influential power over the people. Now with the military powers that the New Oz had, there was no problem in "dismissing" away with the "woman".

After A.C 196 the Gundams had been destroyed; and with their destruction came the fall of the ESUN. Sure, against the Baton foundation alone they had been able to fight to the end. Traize Kushranada's spirit had been with them during that fight, and out of respect for their Excellency's memory that had cast down their weapons. This time around there was no Traize who would be able to help them. A society fully devoted to its cause; not to a man. The Barton and Rommerfeller foundation's working together had finally done it. Within one swift move they had taken out every single strategic battle point in the world. With the worlds lack of retaliatory powers it was too easy.

The Preventers had been trying their best to beat them, but with the most mediocre of equipment, they could not do much. It was only when a rumor had spread that the pilots of 195 were once again on the move did the world band together. A failing resistance had been formed. The current rescue of Relena had been one of their biggest victories against NoZ. Even so the pilots showed no real looks of victory in their faces. They were all worn, and tired.

"We did the job rig—" Relena shifted as they Duo had been talking. Heero, with a noticed haste, quickly walked to her side. A weak and whispered word escaped her mouth as she opened her eyes. "Heero…." Looking up at him she slowly rose to sit up from where she had been laying in the grass. Heero had been quicker to steady her rise than even Quatre—who was sitting right beside her.

"Don't waste too much energy talking. You were unconscious for a little." Heero didn't notice when Duo whispered to Wufei, "How come he never helped us like that when we were out?" Duo's sly grin gave away the answer, and even Wufei had to take a small laugh out of the implications that were made. "Because she's a woman, never been sure about you though Maxwell." The quick cut had been all that had been needed for the chestnut brown haired pilot to go off the edge.

"Hey, not cool!" Duo shoved Wufei a little to the side, and no sooner did he, than a bullet hole appear in the ground in front of them. Giving the bullet hole a glace was the last thing anyone was doing. Heero was already picking up and running off with Relena. The rest were scrambling. Shot's continued to fire from their unseen adversary.

"Sniper!" Duo was quick to be behind a tree as soon s he could. The bullet hole was not a small one, and it was clear that it had been shot from a distance. Pulling out his gun he turned to his other comrades. The Pilots looked at each other, giving Heero a quick nod they all spread out along the woods, each having their weapons cocked and ready. No sooner than Heero broke into the open to run with Relena clinging onto him did they break out a spread into the woods. This wasn't the first sniper they had dealt with…


	2. Improvosation

They were running

Duo looked around making sure the others were in his sight, he didn't want any mistaken shots fired at one of his friends; also there was the fact that he might give them all away. The sniper was better than the average skilled gunman. Testing him had proven that he had been able to shoot something that had only appeared to be one of them: they were walking on light feet now.

Hiding behind a tree now, he turned his head and nodded at Wufei. They had finally cornered the guy: it had taken a little while to get him where they had wanted him. Running yet again had taken place—except this time they were running towards the enemy and not away from them: Wufei had been ecstatic about that choice.

Looking off to the other side of him he repeated the motion signaling Quatre, who in turn signaled Trowa. They were used to working with one another now, and it took only the meanest of commutative signs to tell the other what one wanted done. The sniper had continued to fire at them—from a pretty fair distance at that, but had given away his position when they set him up by following a strait pat and seeing which way the bullets angled.

Coming together had been the last way to work this plan, and even as the signal was given out they all broke out. Wufei jumped into the cross section path they had been walking down, now running he kept in a zigzag, making sure to make the most difficult target for the sniper. The fish bit the bait hard. As he was running two bullets lodged themselves into the ground where the agile Wufei had been only moments before. The Chinese man kept moving, knowing that if he stopped it would be the last thing he ever did.

"Maxwell, you better not screw this up!" The thought ran through his head as he continued on his "suicide goose run" as Duo had deemed the technique that Wufei was currently using. His eyes ever vigilant, Wufei continued running, this was really no proble—something jumped out in front of him as he was running, without enough time to avoid it, he collided strait into the thing that a just gotten in his way. Thinking this was his last few moments, he yelled the one thing that came out of his mind: "INJUSTICE!"

Even as his final scream was heard the snipers hand had been moving the gun and taking his careful aim. He would make the deer that helped him here a rug for this victory. As he took his final aim something clicked rather close to his head. Looking up he turned his head to the last person he expected to see.

Duo Maxwell stood in front of him, his gun pointed right at the snipers head. "Gotcha." The sniper didn't even have time to plea for his life before a bullet was forced through his head. Turning away from the sniper, Duo looked to where his other two comrades were.

"What happened to Wufei?" He looked around, already expecting his irritated "comrade" to be here. Quatre turned to the just arriving Trowa who had a small smirk on his face, one that was overly priceless on the usual emotionless face.

"It seems that Wufei has traded us in for more pleasant company." The mocking tone was not missed, and even as Wufei walked up to them they shared the little laugh they had gotten out of it.

Passing it off as a stupid twist of fate, Wufei merely grunted and began walking the way back to where the former camp was. If he was right, they would be able to find Yuy's trail from there. After all, they knew where he was going: this situation had been discussed just incase.

Heero had grabbed Relena no sooner than the other had taken off to confront their assassin: she was more important than the would-be killer, and the others didn't need him for any sniper, they would do fine on their own. Aside from that, he wouldn't have left her had the others been overwhelmed: she was all that mattered to him.

He held her close, making sure that she was safe at all moments. He had continued running for close to 20 minutes after the others had run off to confront the sniper; it never hurt to be too cautious. He had made his way along the river until he had reached a little cave, from there he began walking. Figuring it best to stop at the cave, he quickly made a scope of it while he had laid Relena down to rest real quick. Once he was sure that everything was all right he moved her into the cave.

Setting her down, he sat beside her. A stoic expression graced his face, but in his eyes the pure concern and worry for the woman's safety burned with a fire hotter than the flames of hell did: that and a look of pure calmness. Even when in a panicked mood his training had prevailed and he was still able to keep a calm head.

His back to the cave wall, he listened and waited, seeing if he could hear anything: that would be his first alert if that was anything out there. Hearing a small moan, he turned to look at Relena. She was just gaining full awareness: he was lucky about that. Moving to help her sit up, Heero looked at her, making sure not to make anything too much of a strain on her.

"Where are we at?" The slightly slurred and sleepy speech was noted by the ever vigilant soldier. "At the current moment we're in a cave on the run from a sniper." A small look of indifference passed by Heeros emotionless face: "It's nothing to really be worried about, if I'm right, the others should already be making their way here."

Looking him over Relena saw that Heero should have been drop dead tired; the last thing she remembered was that it was night and she had tripped over something. By the light that was shining outside of the cave it must have been midday already. "Where are we headed to right now?"

"We're going to wait until the others catch up with us and then head strait for Victoria as fast as we can." Relena was impressed by how much the usually quite soldier was telling her; and all at one time too. A big change from the hasty man she had met those few years ago. "Zechs and Noin should be there to greet us. From there it is a bet if we can make it out of Africa and somewhere where no one will bother to think of looking for us."

Everything was said with the usual monotone voice which he had always used. It had been more than two years since she had last seen him. Again there seemed to be the mission, she was one at the moment: yet she sensed that there was more than he was not telling her. "We haven't really had the chance to talk Heero—" It came out in a soft breath, not because of the former unconscious state she was in: there was more to it than that.

Heero looked back to her. The woman who he had devoted apart of his life to protecting, the woman he would be willing to give his life protecting. Looking into her eyes he didn't see any of the worry; sure there was alertness, but it was as if she knew she was going to be safe: why? That was one of the things he had grown to love about her: that genuine expression that she had always been able to have. "Last night things were too hectic..." She continued.

Something shifted on the outside of the cave as she was talking, had she not been talking softly he would never have even noticed it. Something was out there, and it didn't want to be heard. Moving so he was covering Relena completely with his body from any angle while shooting in the cave, he listed for whatever he could hear, as she continued to speak.

"I knew you would come for me." Taking his attention off of the unknown thing outside, he turned to look at Relena for a second. Persian blue orbs met natural blue. That split instant was all they had before Heero heard it: a cocking sound. Keeping his alertness sharp he kept his gaze on Relena, as not to alert the unknown watcher.

"What took you so long?" Joking? Interesting as it was she was able to joke like this. Relena enjoyed the small looked that was on Heeros face—something moved in the behind him. "Heero!"

Turning as quick as he could, he threw a rather large rock at the person behind him as he was taking aim. His aim was true and hit the would-be assassin as the gun shot, missing them by only feet. Pulling a gun from the back of his pants he pointed quickly shot hitting the person in the hand.

Not being thrown off by getting shot in the hand, the gunman was taking aim with the other hand. Another shot fired just as Heeros' hand set to pull the trigger, the assassin fell forward as Wufei walked up from the opening of the cave.

"Looks like they had you followed Yuy." Quatre and Duo made their way into the cave just as the scene had ended. Looking around, they saw the three shots that had been made: two in the assassin and one not too far in the back of the wall where Heero and was standing. Relena was behind him.

"Look's like it. The sniper dead?" The others looked at each other as if Heero had just asked if any of them had hair. "Of course the sniper is dead, what, you think you're the only one that can do anything right?" A disgruntled but kidding Duo looked at everyone as he was saying it.

"Well, it doesn't matter now; let's get moving on to Victoria." With that said, the perfect soldier began walking, Relena trailing. "It's good to see you up and about princess." Smiling towards Quatre Relena kept walking, the others following behind. Victoria would take another small hike to reach. Once there, they could relax. For a little.


	3. Hope

Echo's seemed to resonate across the empty halls. Sounds, very much like those of ghost, seemed to wander the forsaken halls. All around the lifelessness of the place seemed only to emphasize on the helplessness of their own cause, or so it seemed to the once called Lightning Count. Millardo Peacecraft stood in the empty Lake Victoria base. Alone, in the hanger, memories from long ago flooded his mind. Looking behind him, he looked to the one soul hope that they had. With that hope, he sighed.

"It looks as if we can never attain peace long enough to enjoy it." Spoken as if he spoke to the air itself, the woman who came waking towards him only glanced at him for a second before nodding her head. Lucreatzea Noin ha stood by Millardo's side for longer than anyone else had. When he chose exile over returning to the world of the "living" as he called it, she had chosen to go with him. Only now had it become apparent to him how much her worth to him had grown.

"It does seem that way." Noin looked around, her own fond memories of the base filling her head. Her days instructing here had been some of her happiest and saddest. The hanger looked darker than it had before, and more ramshackle than it ever had in it's history. That was to be expected of an abandoned base though. Its current use had only supplied it with temporary supplies, and at that, it was the bare minimum so that it could be used.

Millardo walked forward, and looked out the hangar door, which had been opened to admit Noin and himself earlier that day. A small smile crept on his face as he watched the moon in the sky. The smoke residue was nearly invisible in this dark night, and the surrounding forest that had once been kept at bay flourished in the unused terrain it had now claimed as it's own.

Turning away from the moon, he looked at his arm, the watch on it telling that it was just after 10:00 PM. "The others should be arriving shortly, we should be ready for when they get here." Always a practical man, he turned and faced their soul hope. The shattered remained of Wing Zero resided in the hangar, nothing more than it's torso, but so long as they had this, they had hope.

Heero looked forward as he continued clearing a path to the base. His mind was in a constant torment. What he had been thinking shortly for that one moment had distracted him from his mission had distracted him from her safety. Nothing was more important than that. Nothing. He was unsure how well he could protect her this time though, and he himself had no idea what they were going to do.

Looking back in a nonchalant way, he checked on her. She had been walking beside Quatre and Duo since they had gotten out of the cave. For one, he found it hard to concentrate with her so near, and the other, because with him more vigilant, no one could sneak up on them. It pained him more than anything to see her having to live like this, to see all the work that she had done thrown away. It enraged him.

Walking steadily ahead, he finally spotted the opening to the base, and walked out into the small opening before the others, sending back a signal for them to wait. Looking around, Heero made sure the empty runway was empty before signaling them to hurry across.

Wufei and Trowa stood guard, watching their backs as Quatre and Duo quickly rushed Relena out from the woods, as quickly to the entrance of the base as was humanly possible. All the while, Heero had advanced and made sure the way was clear. Perfection in their work was something the pilots had been noted for.

When they had all gathered inside, they continued to make their way through the building, and towards the hangar. Most of the building was in shambles, the more recent explosions had caused them to be like that, but it had insured that they would have safe passage through on the way back. As Heero had stated earlier, the job being done right made the base nearly uninhabitable. Luckily they had Noin.

Since she had been the head Officer at this building once, she knew where all the little nooks and crooks were, and had planned before hand to use one of the more hidden and out of the way rooms to meet them in. With news that they had a gift when they had called earlier, the pilots could only wonder what to them were two of the most impressive people in the world considered a gift. It had each of them a little excited, and one of them a little nervous.

Arriving at the door, complete silence being kept, Heero cocked his gun. Five seconds after he cocked it the door opened. Noin rushed out of the room, and towards Relena as she embraced the younger woman. A slight smile on her face, she was disciplined enough to keep it quite so that if any lingerers were here, they would hear nothing, and not know what section of the building they were in.

Walking into the room, several lanterns lighting it, the pilots quickly assessed everything that was of use. Across a folding table were maps of the greater Eurasia region. Those would be of minimal help since even trying to go near that place was suicide, the more barren parts of Africa and Siberia were more what they were looking for. Millardo awaited them, and the closing of the door before he spoke.

"Good, you all made it, I was beginning to wonder if you still had the skills you had then." The pilots took the slight insult as a form of praise. Each and every one of them knew their worth, but they also knew his worth too. "Come now Birdman, you should worry about us, I'm surprised you could still move, after all, being dead should make you slow right?" Duo smiled at his returned insult. It was only Heero who noticed Zech's quick look towards his sister. The rest considered him completely devoted to the cause he had rallied himself.

"Enough with the idle chatter, what's the plan?" Wufei, always strait to the point cut in. "At the moment, we're going to wait here as long as we can, Sally and Dorothy should be arriving anywhere within the next two hours. We also expect for Abdul and Atta to be showing up shortly as well. The Maguanac core is waiting in Siberia for us." Calmly, Millardo pulled a map from under the one he had been viewing to show them their route to Siberia. "We'll travel as quick and quietly as we can, two different groups will be going. Noin, Wufei, Trowa, and Sally will travel by air and meet up with us there, the rest of us will take a land route, but either way is dangerous. The purpose of splitting up is for the extra cargo the air group will be taking. The plane that Dorothy and Sally are using to get here will be enough for them to get where they need to."

Quatre looked up from the map as Millardo had said splitting up, that didn't sound like a good idea to him, but then the older soldier had done things like this, and he knew how the enemy thought better than most people, so he resigned to simply supplement his worries with a question. "What would happen if either of the groups were caught?"

"We'd better hope that doesn't happen. The standard at the moment is to eliminate any of us on the spot, including Relena, although those orders are more hushed than our own personal execution orders." Around the room, everyone looked at Millardo grimly as he announced the fate of what might happened if they failed.

Heero, who had been paying more attention to Relena, turned to face Zechs. There were a few lingering feelings from the past that crept up, but they were easy to control, and all but wiped out already. He had become one of them fully, and Heero had nothing more than a personal rivalry with the man. "What about offensive measures?"

A gun cocking twice at the door alerted everyone, and Noin, who had been standing near it, having a whispered conversation of her own with Relena moved her away from the door as Wufei moved to open it. Sally Poe walked in along side Dorothy, who immediately went to Relena's side. "It's good to see that everyone made it." She spared a look at Duo, and the pilot couldn't help but let a mumbled, "Why does everyone think I'M the clumsy one?" lose before turning back and waiting for Millardo to answer the question.

"In that aspect, we don't have much," Sally, though concerned about Relena, took to the table and listened while Millardo explained the plans. "All we really have are the two Toreses that were left over from the Sanq Kingdom, and those are sadly pretty much useless." He looked the pilots over, knowing they knew what he meant by useless. Any mobile suit in their hands could be turned into the most deadly of weapons, but with the advanced suits that Oz had, it would be a pretty hard fight using a less compatible suit. Outside from the new suits that they had made, no Mobile suit could match, none that were still around at least.

Trowa spoke up then, his curiosity having been peeked earlier when Millardo had mentioned extra cargo. "What's this extra load that we will be taking with us?" The other pilots paid sharper attention as they waited for this questioned to be answered. "The remained of Wing Zero." Heero look intently towards Zechs, a rush had entered into his blood. He'd never self detonated those remained, because they were all but worthless, but some of the more vital parts of it had stayed because of that.

Maybe they did have a chance…


	4. Sorrow

Hey guys, i'm sorry I took so long with this. I got so busy that I had to put everything I was doing as a writer on hold. Keep up with my hectic life though, I promise I won't let you down. I'd also like to thank the people who Read and Review, you guys are the reason I write.

Here is Chapter 4, please enjoy.

* * *

He had walked away from the meeting not long after the announcement made by Zechs. It was not something he really wanted to think about, but now he had no choice but to consider what had been insinuated when they mentioned Wing Zero. The only thing the remains of that suit would be good for was the ZERO system. It wasn't really the best of memories for him, that system.

The hallway was a quite one, and the lights were dim enough for visual aid if something happened. Meaning that seeing his hand in front of his face was like looking through a screen. Heero leaned against the wall, wondering slightly what caused him to be thinking like this at the moment. This was what was needed; this was what had to be done. Even with that knowledge, he could only think about the promise he would have to break. Even in the freeing of Relena, he had let the others do the task, his hands had yet to add a new coating of blood to them. He knew it wouldn't last long, yet he felt that it was something to be sorrowful over.

"Prefer thinking alone, or would you like some company?" The voice had caught him off guard. He had been deep in thought, and hadn't noticed her enter the hallway. Even though he couldn't see her, it was as though he could hear the wry grin on her face. He saw her visage move across the hall, and come towards him, the political outfit she wore visible only slightly. The bright white of it was only slightly blighted by their adventure today. He couldn't help the slight lifting of his lips at the edge, the smallest of smiles.

"Hn" It didn't discourage her, and she walked a leaned against the wall beside him. Relena knew him possibly better than anyone living, most likely better than he knew himself, and it always amazed Heero. Time would come to mind where she had been looking at him. A feeling had always built up inside him; it was as though her eyes could pierce his soul. Maddening as it was, he had never revealed this to her; he was sure she had some inkling of her influence over him.

"It's been a wild day Heero, it's nice to have a calm at the moment." Her quite voice, joking was enough to set his mind at ease. He didn't need to tell her that this was only a slight calm in a never-ending storm. There was a plethora of storms to come, and the titanic proportions at which they were coming would seem inconceivable. She spared him a glance, knowing what his answer would be, and kept that smile on her face. She had come here to talk to him about something she knew she would have had to address either way, and it was time to let it be known that it was making her feel uneasy.

"Heero…" Hurt entered into her eyes, she knew what she was about to do, and she hated herself for doing it. Earlier had been a mistake, she knew it, she knew he knew it, and she knew he knew she knew it. It was a touchy subject, the two of them, but this was even bigger than that. This was the one promise that had been made to her that she held even higher than his promise to protect her. A tear shed from her eyes, and her heart broke as she opened her mouth to speak.

Before she could get a word out of her mouth, his hand had risen to her face. How he had seen it, she didn't even know, but the tear she had shed made it only halfway down. His finger stopped it, wiping it away. Like the first time he had touched her, this sent a slight thrill down, a longing, and a love, but the fact still remained that what she had to say had to be said. Even still, before she could again try to open her mouth, his usually monotone voice answered back with a warm and silent whisper. "I know Relena."

She looked up and into his eyes as he spoke; he had come to stand in front of her, the hand that had wiped away her tear coming to cup her cheek. Softly his thumb caressed her cheek as another tear dropped, followed by more. "I'm so sorry Hee—" The look in his eyes stopped her from finishing, not furious would be the wrong look, but it was something near it. He moved closer to her, and looked directly inter her eyes. "This is not your fault. There was nothing you could have done to have prevented these things from happening."

Looking away from his intense eyes, Relena stared down, and tried to stop her tears from falling. The subject had already been covered, but she felt that she had to get it off of her chest. "I still failed you though, I still failed them." Heero looked at her as she said it, a few more tears falling from her eyes. The hatred he felt at that moment was paramount to the barest feelings he had ever felt. They had been betrayed by the world more than enough, and yet the world had seen fit to think that it wasn't enough. That wasn't what bothered him though. It was the fact that the world had betrayed her!

At the age of 16 she had taken on a job that had entitled her to do something that not even the world leaders could do: keep the peace. A job that most others would have strayed from, she had walked into with open arms. Every since the end of the War, she had worked hard for the slight peace they had, giving her life to it, and willingly sacrificing her own for the world. At 17 she had accomplished what most people would have considered impossible, and drove the people towards a new future, or what had seemed liked one at the time. She had cleared and abdicated the people of the war, and only went forth proclaiming what was truly needed. All this had gained her a rightful title, The Dove of Peace. Yet, even with all her efforts, with all the love of the people, the world had still betrayed her. It infuriated him.

Now here she was, a fugitive with execution orders signed on her. She had done nothing more than try to help the world, and the world had betrayed her. It tore at his soul, and tormented him to no end. Was this world even worth saving? The thought had crossed his mind, and the questions posed to him by Zechs during their final fight had decided to plague his mind to no end.

His heart was torn, and he knew that she could see it. It was most likely why she had come. Something from in the cave must have caught her attention. His slight hesitation might have coasted him his life. It made him feel foolish. What she had come to do was what he had feared, and wanted at the same time. She would forgive him for what he would have to become once more. He knew she would understand; it still made him loath that he had been born a weapon.

Her embrace was what brought him out of his thought. She had pulled him into a tight hug, clutching him around his chest. She buried her head in his chest, and all he could do was return it. She was looking for the same thing he was looking for: comfort. It was something only she could provide him with, and he gladly welcomed it. Her embrace was tight, and his was gentle. That matched each other perfectly.

"You didn't fail us Relena…" he whispered it into her ear, he body shaking a little with the sorrow she still contained. He closed his eyes and silently relaxed in this moment. Holding her in his arms right now was enough. Being here and able to protect her was enough, and his protection would be more than physical this time. He would protect her from the world. "I failed you."

* * *

Milliardo looked around the room at the others that were present. At the moment, some of them were talking about the things that had been discussed, and others were taking what time they had to rest. He closed his eyes and leaned back into the chair he was sitting in. The world was a cruel place, and like he had once commented so long ago, wars were heartless. If he could have chosen a group of people that deserved peace more than anyone else, it would have been this one. They had fought for peace harder than anyone else, they had believed in it longer than anyone else, and still the world would not concede to the future they desired.

His mind was tired, and it desired the quietness that it had attained in his slight "death". It was too bad that his spirit would not allow him to remain dead. None of their spirits would. Even though each of them was tired from battle, worn down, and exhausted, whenever he managed to get a look at their eyes he could see the burning passion still in them. Injustice radiated from their spirits, and the desire to correct the evils of the world flowed from them. He still had no idea how they remained to kind and so pure. It amazed him still.

"You know, I can never get over my admiration for those guys." Noin had approached him and stood beside the desk, looking over at them. Duo was talking and smiling with Hilde, Wufei was discussing one part of the objective or another with Sally, and Quatre was speaking to Dorothy. Trowa stood nearby; Catherine was no doubt on his mind. The woman had been hysteric when he had told her that he was coming here, but she had conceded to it once she learned it had been to save Relena. If everything was going to plan she would be in Siberia at the moment, the Arabic nations preparing to accept them had needed an ambassador from the pilots themselves, though commander Sadaul had said t was only a formality that had to be kept.

"The world never seems to be able to faze them, and they still have that kindness and purity that they had at the beginning of the war." Her eyes were filled with what she was saying. He knew how she felt, it was the way he felt about them. "Those guys are rare people. History rarely provides saviors, much less 5 at once." Noin smiled, as she looked at Milliardo. "Speaking of saviors, aren't we short two?" A look entered Milliardo's eyes as she spoke, and he could only contain the slight smile that entered his features. "Do you enjoy torturing me about the fact that my younger sister is in love with my former enemy?" A slight laugh escaped Noin; it couldn't be helped. "I'd be more worried about what she went to talk to him about." A serious tone had entered into her eyes, and Milliardo noted it.

"Know something I don't?" The tone in his voice was curios as he looked at her, then his heart almost sank. Noins eyes already told him that this subject was not something to tread lightly on. She moved a little closer to him as she spoke, so that only he could hear her.

"Well, not too long after the last battle, Relena and I had met up before you and I had taken off. We only talked for an hour or so, but she had been relieved by something Heero had told her apparently." She stopped real quickly to let her mind reminisce over the moment before continuing. "Apparently after the whole incident, Heero had promised himself and her that he would never kill again. It was a big move for him, so she said, and it was what opened the door so he could have a real future." Sitting down on the desk in front of Milliardo, she kept the somber expression that wanted to enter on to her face off. Her eyes betrayed her to Milliardo though. "I think she went to go relieve him of that promise, it won't do much but get her and him killed, although I know she doesn't care about what happens to her."

Milliardo stared at Noin as she spoke. He mentally checked off another mark against the world. He had never known Heero had made such a promise, but even he and the rest of the pilots had been averse to killing unless it had to be done. In the up coming days it would be needed, and there would be no justifications for what they would do. It would be another sin for them to bear. Heero's sorrow was not the only one to be upset about. If he could have spared all of them this he would. At the moment, he couldn't even spare himself from it. He wouldn't. Even though the world had betrayed them to this lonely and isolated path, they could bear it, and move on. Though they were betrayed, they had the strength, purity and kindness to live though it all. The world didn't deserve them, but they were here nonetheless.

"The world has much to answer for, but the sins and betrayals against them are at the top. How cruel is it that the world rejects them?" It was all he could say. No beautiful speech could cover the hurt he felt in his soul. He was not Treize. He spent a few more moments thinking on it before he let his mind turn to other things. "Be sure everyone gets some rest Noin, we'll be leaving soon." After getting the slight nod from her, he leaned back, and let the calming darkness take him. Their counterattack against the world was going to have to be strong, so the world could know their sorrow.

He hoped the world would listen.

* * *

Yeah, so I hope you guys enjoyed that. I promise to have this next chapter out in at least two weeks. I'm not lying this time, I already started writing it, and it's going really good. I guess you can say that I had a burst of fire enter my writing soul, all the months that I hadn't let it out and all. I know my chapters are really short at the moment, but this is the beginnning still so please cut me a small break, I promise you once we get more into this we'll start having chapters that are longer than 2,000 words.

Thanks for reading, if you would please, read, review, and tell me what I did wrong. Oh! And by the way, if you want little updates on what I'm doing in my life right now, just head over to my page. It covers my return, and my big writing projects(NGW!!!). For now my best to you readers.

Divinitas Intereo


	5. Time

Here it is, although it is much after two weeks. Sorry about that. Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut on those kinds of things. Well, enjoy this next chapter.

Oh, and before I forget, thanks for all those awesome reviews. They were inspirational.

* * *

"I told you we would be late!" Atta looked over to Abdul and frowned. They had been trying to make good time, but with all the checkpoints that Oz had set it, it made it nearly impossible to get through without completely blowing their cover. The van had been a great disguise, and had managed to get them through every checkpoint, but the cost of using this disguise was that they had to stop at almost every checkpoint so that their "Inventory" could be checked. Atta looked gloomy as he stared back over his shoulder at Abdul.

"Well, there wasn't much we could do about it, Zechs said he expected us to be a little late—" Abdul gave Atta a small try at a smile, but still tread lightly. The incident that had made them later than usual had all been Abduls fault. A few hours ago, Abduls mouth had gotten them a full scan, aside from the normal look over, so that had wasted their grace period and they had now overshot their already predicted lateness by more than 3 hours. It was all Atta could do to keep himself contained o a reasonable sense of rage.

"You're just lucky it's me and not Rashid that came on this mission with you. Ahmed was right; I should have just let him come instead of me. I might actually live to see Master Quatre then." He ended his small speech as he drove the van into the designated place in the Lake Victoria base. Everything had been preplanned and prearranged by Noin and Zechs for them. Now that they had arrived, there was a projected 2 hours of time that could be spent here, after that it was leaving here, or risk leaving a trail behind for anyone to follow. The thought hastened them both.

Exiting the van and getting the needed equipment, Abdul and Atta raced along the passages of the base. It wasn't until a few more turns that Abdul started thinking for a second. "Atta, I think we may be…" Passing a sign he knew for sure he'd send before, he finished his sentence by stopping and pointing at it, "Lost." Atta looked at the sign and a look of inconvenience was on his face. "I thought you said you knew the way!" He looked back at Abdul with a slight annoyance in his eyes. "I said that I knew the correct entry way, you're the one that is supposed to know the way!" They stared at each other for a few seconds before taking a slight breather and continuing walking.

"Zechs told me that all we had to do was keep taking the left door at every right turn, after the sixth time we would come to a door that led into a hallway." Going through another door, Abdul looked around it wasn't until he managed to give it a real good think through that he remembered the last bit of information…"And when we came to that hallway, we were supposed to walk down the right side…" They both looked at one another as they came to the door that had been described to them. "I'm telling Master Quatre that it's your fault that we are late." Abdul smirked at Atta, and it was all he could do to restrain himself from smacking his fellow maguanac upside the head.

Walking up to the door, they stopped in front of it, pulled out their gun, cocked it once, and then waited five seconds before cocking it once again. The door opened after a little while. Whoever had come up with that pass code had either been very smart, or in a rush, either way, Atta had liked the fact that in order to enter you had to acknowledge that you had a weapon on you. The five-second wait was also a smart thing to. Made sure that it was actually the person you were waiting on. It would have been a real bummer to open the door to a loaded gun in your face.

Blue eyes stared at them as they stood in the doorway. "You two are late." Before any words could be said, Milliardo showed up at the doorway, Wufei moving aside a little to let him see the two late arrivals. "He's right, you two are very late." Abdul and Atta looked at him with a slightly embarrassed plea on their faces. The scrutiny in Milliardo's eyes was one thing they did not enjoy, but before they could be told they were late again, Abdul spoke up.

"Sorry about that Zechs, but we sort of got caught up at a checkpoint. Little accident, but nothing too major." Smiling a slight smile to try and smooth things over, he was relived when a certain voice broke threw from behind the door. "Well, it's all in the past now either way, what matters is that they're here now." The door fully opened to reveal their savior, whom was none other than their dear Master Quatre. Abdul could barely contain himself before he leapt into the room, dropping the equipment he was carrying, and giving Quatre a once over. "I hope everything has gone well with you Master!"

The smile that was on his face smoothed things over, Milliardo walking away from the door with a slightly annoyed look on his face. Atta entered the room too, inquiring about Quatre's health as well. It was only a few moments before they were in full swing, catching up with one another.

Milliardo looked over at them for a little, and then turned his attention to the equipment that Abdul had just tossed to the floor, picking up the bag from where it was, he hoisted it over to the desk and opened it. Everything he ha requested was neatly packed in the bag. Ammunition, some grenades, and guns, Sally had taken care of all their medicinal needs, so the only thing they had been waiting for was the ammunition they would need to pull off their plan. It was the next few steps that would be tricky. Picking up one of the guns, he stowed it away into his back holster, then turned away from it.

Ever since his last talk with Noin he had been resting. They had taken shifts in waiting for the last two members of the crew to arrive, and when it had become apparent that they were going to be late, he had gotten a little edgy. He hadn't seen Yuy or his Sister since they had both walked off to be alone, but he knew where they were. Outside in the hallway to the left of the room, although why they couldn't have spent the time in here, he had no clue, most of the others had decided that it was best to stick with one another. He let a small whisper pass through his lips as he approached Duo, who was slightly snoring in one of the chairs.

Smirking a little, he kicked the chair a little and almost laughed when he saw how the younger pilot reacted to the rude awakening he had just received. While Duo yawned and looked over towards Hilde, he made a quick go around the room before looking at Milliardo. "Good morning to you too birdman." His sarcastic tone wasn't missed, but it was soon forgotten when Milliardo spoke. "Go get Yuy, it's almost time to leave." With that said, he turned around and walked away from Duo. Turning back to the desk, he poured over the maps again, Noin coming to his side. There truly was nothing better than those slightly predictable things.

The hallway was quite, and had been quite since their talk a few hours ago. She had fallen asleep lying against him, and he had been perfectly content to let her rest. She had to have been exhausted, and being knocked out and sleeping were two different things. Also, it was peaceful to watch her while she slept, somehow, it made him feel…complete, fulfilled almost. He could never really explain that, and so he tried not too.

She had spent a little bit crying in his arms, and his rage had grown with each tear. It was no longer at the world, but was pointed at him now. He knew one of the reasons she was not simply pardoned was because she had refused to give away whatever information she might have had on their locations. His cold blue eyes had been closed for once, and re living the moments up until this one. Why she protected them the way she did he would never know, but he would always know that they were not worth it. None of them were.

He lay back against the wall, getting his slight rest. His mind had churned through a lot, from the girl and her dog, to the last battle. His life was a scattered assortment of battles, and he hated it. Every second of his past seemed to be drenched in some mission or another, and it looked as if every second of his future, and more troubling to him, her future was going to be the same.

When the hall door opened, he noted that it was Duo coming looking for them. Staring down at Relena for a few more seconds in the silence that was there before Duo noticed them, he brushed his hand through her hair once more before getting up. Bending down he lightly caressed her cheek, and she awoke with a sight smile on her face. Duo looked over at them only for a second, and then relayed the message he had been given. It wasn't in him to stay too long, he'd felt like an intruder the moment he'd walked into the hallway, so he made a hasty escaped as Relena stood to her feet.

"Is it time to go already?" She was still slightly wiping the sleep from her eyes as Heero held her, making sure she didn't fall down in any kind of loss of coherency. "Almost, Zechs just sent Duo to tell us that we should get ready." His soft monotone was soothing to her, and even if it was in a hallway of an abandoned base, she was glad that she had woken to him there. It was a feeling that thrilled her. She smiled brightly as they began to walk towards the door to the room where the others were.

She spared only a slight thought for the amount of time that had passed before she walked into the room, Heero trailing, and into an interesting scene. Two of the maguanac men were standing in front of Quatre, blocking Dorothy from talking to him. It only took her a moment to think of why. She couldn't help but burst laughing at the scene, it was apparent that the two men were clearly outmatched by the younger woman.

At Relena's laugh everyone in the room turned to see the entering two. Milliardo spared a glace for them before turning back to the maps, signaling Heero over to him while doing so. The rest of the pilots followed suit, along with Noin, Sally, and Hilde. Looking over at them, Relena smiled slightly. Although they were on the run for their lives, it felt right for them all to be here like this. It felt natural. With that thought in mind, and her smile still on her face, she walked over to Dorothy and sat down where she was. No sooner than she had taken her seat, than did Dorothy spring into a conversation.

"Those men are so irritating!"

* * *

And there you go. Another Chapter to my ongoing fanfic. Thanks for reading, and thanks for taking the time to click that wonderful little angel that says review and type out a little something something for me to read. ^_^ Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope that you'll be able to wait it out with me while I chop out chapter six. I know I'm taking a little while, but please bear with me. Till the next--

Divinitas Intereo.


	6. Travel

And here it is for your enjoyment ladies and gentlement, the next chapter in my ongoing fic. I know most of you are very near lynching me at the moment, and I can tell you that I am very sorry that this is taking so long, but I wont. Because here in the next few chapters I know that you will have to believe that the wait this long was worth it.

Thanks to all the people who have reviewed the story so far, more of those will be a good motivation for me. *HINT HINT*

* * *

"We have to continue on and hope that they'll be able to do as they have always done…The impossible." Most of the people in the room looked more worn than they had any right to be, and coming from her that actually meant something. To have been stuck with drawing the lot of coming here ahead of everyone else had been the worst thing that had happened to her in the most recent amount of days. All she ever did was sit around and listen to these people drone on and on about the different things that were happening; if not for her direct link to some of those things she would have been completely indifferent, but she was tied to those things. Tied by a sad faced clown…

It had been forever it seemed since she had seen the others, although in actuality two weeks had passed. She had last checked in with Ahmed about Abdul and Atta's progress not too long ago, it seemed every thing was going well, and Rashid…was Rashid, normal stoic massive leader of the Maguanac's. She didn't really begrudge being here, she knew that although she had a massive stock of skills none of them could be used in what they were doing at the moment. Everyone that had been used in the mission of recovering the Queen of the World had a history of militaristic training. Heero had been the one most against her accompanying them—aside from Trowa himself. She had tried to use the argument that Hilde had gone along with them, but that had ended up as a mute point. It was sometimes easy to forget that the girl had been in the Oz space forces back in the original war. Well, whatever the outcome was she was now stuck here and waiting on the others to get back. Trowa and Quatre had tried to soften the trip with the fact that they had needed someone here aside from Rashid who could represent them to the leaders here. It hadn't worked; ever since she had been here Rashid had been the one that had been doing all the work. She seemed so unneeded….

"Lady Catharine?" She jumped slightly as she noticed her named being called, she had missed the question that had been posed to her, and Commander Sadaual was still waiting for an answer…along with everyone else. She had no idea what to do, but was thankful when Rashid quickly covered for her. She smiled at the man, and watched as the meeting was ended. Getting up from her seat, she wasn't surprised to find that Rashid had decided to walk over to her. During that past two weeks she had been surprised to learn just how insightful the man was, not to mention the fact that he was as calm mannered and kind as Quatre was.

"Is everything alright Miss Catharine?" She spared no time in waiting to answer; he would guess the truth anyways.

"I just feel so useless here. Everyone knows what they are doing; they all have something to add to 'the mission'." He didn't laugh at her as she spoke, so that was a plus, and he didn't even look at her strangely. He actually nodded in an understanding sort of way…which left her a bit clueless as to how he would understand.

"I can see why you would feel that way. I admit that I myself feel redundant at times." It was slightly impressive to hear that from him. He was always doing something, be it checking on the people here, getting updated on the various events happening, or just plain out being Rashid.

"I can't see why, you at least can help fight when the time comes, me, I'm just here so that I wouldn't be in the way." Somehow that had just seemed to slip out and it came out in a more whiny way than she had intended it to, but she knew that Rashid was to kind to mention anything about that. Instead he continued with his normal, calm tones.

"That's not true, although you may not realize it, for the moment you represent the Gundam Pilots here, and that in itself is a big job." Walk toward the exit of the meeting rooms and into the main hanger he gestured to the people all around them. "Although we would resist even without the pilots here strengthening our resolves, it helps all of us to know that they are here. Those young men have a way of uniting the people's hearts, and that is why having them on our side is so important to us."

She paid attention as he talked, but still… "I understand that Trowa and the rest are a big part of this, I just don't see how I am a big part of this. Before I was nothing more than a circus performer, now I'm representing the Gundam Pilots?!"

She was sure he caught on to the truth in her words, but even still, the look of quaint disagreement on her face was a puzzle to her. How could he not think her useless? She thought of herself as useless. When he began to speak again, she listened very carefully in case she missed something.

He spoke slowly and calmly, with the air of a man who understood her. "We all trust in the pilots, we know that they are on our side and we have faith in them to help us, but it also helps us to have a physical representation of them. Unlike before in war when their impossible feats spoke for themselves, now it is the legends told about their incredible skill that help us continue on. Sometimes it's hard to remember that they are around, and many of us, in our hearts lose hope. It's always better to have a physical representation of something than just words. Because you are here everyone knows that the pilots will soon be here themselves. Although a lot of these men mistake them and some times expect too much of them, that is the burden they decided to bear, and because of that knowing that someone that represents them is here, they work better, with a little more hope than before."

He certainly did have a big grasp of the situation, and knowing that some of the people around he felt like that also helped her to see why it was she was needed here. She felt a little better about that.

"I also believe that the knowledge of Miss Relena's freedom will bring a great morale boost to these men. Unlike the pilots, who can inspire those around them, she is our hope for the world."

She certainly hoped Miss Relena was as good as everyone around here said she was. Every times she heard the news that was oncoming, she was losing more and more hope. What kind of person could actually deal with that kind of weight on her shoulders?

* * *

Relena watched silently as they passed yet another of the checkpoints and safely exited Africa. It had been two days since they had left the base at Victoria. It was a long drive to Siberia, and she knew that there was a load of dangers involved with trying to move inconspicuously through these nations. Heero had been his usual self since they had left, and so that had meant next to no conversation from him. Hilde and Duo were cool enough to keep the mood light in the van, but being with her brother and Heero in the same car always turned off any sort of light mood.

She wouldn't have called them bitter towards each other, she knew that any old emotions that they might have had towards one another were long buried, but she also understood that they would never be friends. Sure, on a mission they would trust the other to complete their respective parts, but that was due to a profound respect for the others talents and skills. As far as she knew, and she knew it wasn't just bragging because of her biased judgments, in front of her sat the two most dangerous men in the earth sphere. It was quite odd to her to think that, and as she did, she couldn't help but laugh.

When most people thought of her, she knew they associated her with a dove, a symbol of peace. It would be quite the shock for most of those people to learn that her most dear and trusted friends were the most dangerous and wanted people in the earths sphere. That thought sent her into more giggles. It wasn't until she took time to pay attention to most than just her thoughts that she noticed that the others in the car were looked at her. She blushed slightly before looking over at Duo.

"Find something funny princess?" She couldn't help but smirk at Duo for that remark. She had been the Vice Foreign Minister, Head of State, and Queen of the World, yet even despite that the only title that the jokester of the Gundam pilots could ever come up with was 'princess'. She was never really sure if he was joking, of if he actually found it proper to call her princess. Either way, it was good to know that in the years they had not seen each other he was still able to remain the same light hearted person he always was…even in the face of the whole entire worlds betrayal.

"Not really, just some random thoughts that most of the people would find shocking." She always thought it weird how she'd ended up in office. She can never remember once ever being voted for; most of her positions were simply shoved on her.

"Like?" He edged her on truly curios. Maybe he needed something to make him laugh, she supposed she could indulge him with a little of her meaningless thought.

"Well for one, most people only have the broadest ideas of who I am, and yet they always are willing to follow after me. I was just thinking what most of them would think if they knew that they're former 'Queen of the World' was associated with what are considered some of the most troublesome deviants in the world." She smiled as she made her little joke at his expense. She would have never expected his come back.

"They'd probably be thinking the same thing if they also knew that said queen spent her free time cuddling with a psychotic anti-social stunt man wannabe teddy bear." His grin was so big that it should have been illegal. However, despite the comeback, she laughed at him, and they both shared a laugh.

"You know, I'm pretty sure it would shock them all more if they learned that the supposed great Shinigami's worst fear is to lose that wonderful braid he adores so much." Relena absolutely crackled at that. Hilde had gotten one in on Duo good, but none the less, the pilot was somehow able to save face.

"Now ladies, let's not get jealous, we all know that your just angry that I have the best hair in this car. No need to deny it." He smirked at that, but didn't stop there, "Of course, that is considering that we don't add in our fearless driver up there. Seriously, how do you keep your hair in such good condition?" Relena noticed that even Heero couldn't resist smirking at that one, and Milliardo spared a slight look in the back and relaxed, noting how much of a good time Relena was having. It felt right that they should be like this.

"Well, we can all be thankful for one thing…At least Quatre was the one who got stuck in the other car with his two pet soldiers and Dorothy!" The car quited at that as everyone looked at Duo. "What?'

Nobody spared him a look as they all turned back and continued to wait for the next stop. Siberia was not so far away, and they would be there soon. And with that would come the time to deal with the world…

* * *

Thank you for reading, and I hope to have the next chapter out as soon as possible. Please bear with my laziness, and I promise you won't regret it. Until the next time I remain every truly-

Divinitas Intereo-


	7. Questions & Answers

Hey everyone. It took me awhile to get this chapter to work the way I wanted it to. I realized that in my writing that I had a slight brain fart and had written the original version of this chapter with a major continuity problem, and so I had to go back a rework the entire thing from the ground up. All in all this has turned out to be one of my favorite chapters to write so far, and I am starting to get a bigger _feel_ for the tone of this story. A couple of more chapters, and I should have it down the way I want it to be, so I hope you enjoy it, and I'd like to thank all of you who read and review.

* * *

He stood there staring amidst the cold and hallowed air of the hanger, surrounded by the things which he considered unneeded and unwanted in this world; so much like himself. All around him was the makes of nothing but the darkest parts of mankind's hearts, and yet it was to those very things that they looked to to be their salvation from darkness. It was an irredeemable part of being human, and he could only wonder how humanity as a whole could have become so drowned in its own darkness that it had to depend on a deeper darkness to free itself. That was how he saw it, and she was sure of it. She could tell from the expression on his face, by the tightness that encumbered his chest; it was as if he were facing his most disgusted person in the world: as if he was looking in a mirror.

He stood before a fallen angel, a demon that had been gifted with angels' wings. It was a soulless machine, one that had but only one purpose, and it had been something which had consumed it since the day of its creation. An angel of death, some would say, a tool created for no other purpose than to end creations most precious gift: life. He saw himself as a harbinger of war, and nothing more; his reflection was what he looked at before him. These were his thoughts, his torments. It quenched at her heart to know that these were the truths he saw. Inevitably the world had led him back to what he had never wanted to become, and she saw in his eyes that he recognized the world's worst monster, and that he knew that he looked at it every time he glimpsed his reflection.

She stood only a slight distance away, a sigh escaping her. It had been an eventful journey getting to where they were now, but now that they were here she could begin to feel the pressures that were soon to be placed on her. Sparing Heero one last look, Relena moved back to exit the hanger she had been in. She could see that facing Wing Zero and inevitably the ZERO System itself was something that Heero was going to have to physically face alone. It had been a quagmire for her to learn that only her brother and Heero were able to face that system. Although their nicknames on the battle field did give rise to the reason why; they were titled the Perfect Soldier and the Lightning Count. She was hardly aware as to how they had gotten the names, but she was more than aware that they lived up perfectly to the titles.

Breaking free of the hanger, she absconded away to the room she had been given when they had finally arrived here at the Siberian base. The Maguanac Corp.* Commander had been very accommodating, even when she had refused the most lavished rooms that the base had to offer. He had insisted that she be given every comfort that the base could offer. It had already been two days here, and she was finding it hard being around all these people; especially when she knew they were looking at her all the time. She was used to the fact that more people knew her as "Relena Peacecraft", or "Vice Foreign Minister Darlian", not to mention the prestigious title she held as "Queen Relena", but she was saddened to learn that most people wished to stay away from getting to know just plain old Relena. People made the mistake of idolizing her, and they expected far more than she could really give. It crushed her every time she saw a face turn as she passed them by, and that face light up with a brightened hope. They would never understand that the hope she emitted was gathered from six brave men who took on the burden of carrying the worlds crimes on their shoulders; that at the center of her courage and hope rested the courage of a man who saw himself as a tool for a massacre. What he had yet to understand was that eve though it was the machine he worked though, it was because of him that the avenging angel was quelled and pointed in a direction that was for the betterment of humanity; in the colonies and on earth itself. Though the machine was a demon, it was his purity that gifted the demon with angelic providence.

Stepping into her room, she looked around at all the things she had acquired since they had arrived. The people here had been very generous when they had learned that she had come with nothing but what she had had on her at the time. In the fluxing of a few hours an entire wardrobe had been presented to her, and she had embarrassingly accepted all of the gifts. It was weird to be around the people like this, she had realized back when the Mariemaia incident had occurred that she held an impressing amount of trust with the people. It was a mystery to her why the people put so much faith in her, but it was a goal for her to make sure that she never failed them.

Her hand hiding her eyes, she didn't notice the woman who was in the room with her until she finally looked at her. Without reproach, she relaxed and sat down on the bed in the room, letting her trusted friend continue sitting in the chair.

"You look very tired Relena." The soft voice came across the room, and she could only smile at the slight motherly tone that was in her voice—it was closer to the concerns of an older sister.

"Am I that easy to read Noin?" Her answer was to come over to the bed she was on and to lay Relena's head on her lap to rest.

"Don't worry, at the moment you have every right to exhausted. You've been through quite a bit since the last time we were together." Relena smiled as Noin continued to pat her head. It was moments like these that she treasured. These solitary moments with her family that allowed her to relax. It had been a good while since she had been alone with anyone that she knew. Having recently been freed from the new Oz organization, there hadn't been much time when she was being held by the organization that she had had to herself. No one there had been friendly toward he, and she had, at best, been tolerated by the people that were there.

Remembering the time she had spent in their hands made her shutter. It also brought something else to mind though, something that, in the rushed whirl of the past few days, she had ever gotten the chance to ask. Just _how_ had they managed to free her from the organization? From what she knew, her location at the time had been completely random. Since she foresaw this as one of the few down times she would have for awhile, she decided it would be spent asking the questions that she had been compiling ever since Duo had rushed the guard at the door to the car she had been being transported in.

"Noin, how did you guys manage to free me? I thought that all my locations and movements were kept so random that it would be very difficult to track me."

"Well, it was hard at first, but when Heero found out that there was going to be an opening in their defense he rushed into a plan without thinking. Luckily at the time Quatre had been with him, so he was able to convince Heero not to barge into Lake Victoria without some backup." Readjusting herself for more comfort she continued on.

"We only had a few hours to prepare, and it was very organized. This was one of the few times that we relied more on luck than on the individual skills. When we set everything up we took a lot of risk and chances. We were very lucky that none of us were killed in the attempt, and that I knew the base so well; the operation would have been a little too close to the neck otherwise, and we most likely would have ending up with a dead Heero, although your freedom would have been something that we still would have gotten."

It slightly shocked Relena to have the details told to her so bluntly, in days past they would have tried to put the best light on things for her, but things had changed a lot more in the past five years, and she was no longer a child.

"What about you and my brother? The last time I had any contact with the two of you, both of you were still on the Terraformation project. What happened with that?" Noin looked at Relena with a slight look of shock on her face; it was a mystery to Relena why she was looking at her that way. She awaited Noins answer, fearing the truth that was about to be told.

"You weren't allowed much information while they were holding you were you?" Her response was quick.

"Every now and again someone would be forgetful and I would be able to pick up a little information here and there, but most of the time everything I saw or did was monitored."

"I see, then that would explain why you don't know." Moving away from Relena and getting in a position where they could both see each others faces, Relena was very attentive as Noin began.

"After you were captured, and the Preventers basically annihilated, the Organization moved quickly to try and track every one of us who had played major roles in the former wars down. As you can most likely imagine, it didn't take long before they decided to look in the most hidden places of the Earths Sphere." Relena noted that Noins face seemed to shroud over with memory as she continued on with her reminiscence.

"We were just getting things up and running, the people who had volunteered beside us working as hard as they could to get a small but efficient Side built. It was half way finished, and we were able to live and work on it. The people there were satisfied with the world simply forgetting they existed, but it seems the world didn't want to forget about us.

"They traced Zechs and I to the place, and when they attacked us, they hit us hard. It was only because the other soldiers there that we were able to make an escape. Apparently a few of the ones that had been working under Zechs and myself were former Oz and White Fang soldiers who had a deep respect for either Zechs Marquise or Milliardo Peacecraft. They helped us to escape and saw to it that we wouldn't be followed.

"It took us awhile to completely loose their trial, but when we finally did we turned to Quatre to help us, since all of our resources were spent, and we had no where else we could go. When we got to Quatre's we discovered that the other Pilots had turned there as well. Wufei and Sally had been there since the destruction of the Preventers, and Duo had gone there to make sure that Hilde would be safe, Trowa and Catherine had gone there at the dawn of the Organization, it seemed the only one that had been missing from there was Heero.

"It didn't take us long to track him down, Duo was very efficient in tracking him down for some reason, and when we cornered him he joined up with us." The tale was captivating as Noin continued to explain the events that had led up to them freeing her, how Duo had been tipped off from some friends he had made within the organization, and how when Heero had discovered the location they had immediately planned the operation. It was all told with a great sense of sorrow.

It wasn't until the end that something clicked for her to ask.

"How did Quatre escape the scrutiny of the Organizations checks?" It was the first time since the conversation that Noin had cracked a humorous smile.

"We have a dear Lady Dorothy to thank for that; because of a small relationship the two had kept up, she had managed to make the Winner foundation completely immune to the searchers, marking it as apart of the former foundation. Another of the reasons is because aside from us, most people consider Quatre to be an effeminate playboy with loads of cash." Relena couldn't help the laughter that escaped along with Noins as they shared it at the expense of Quatre.

"Well, that just goes to show how well informed they are about the Pilots, to actually use the word Playboy in the same sentence as Quatre's name is just ridiculous." Their laughter calmed down after a little bit, and they sat in silence for a moment, before Relena just lay back on her bed and completely relaxed. It was late already, and more time than she had realized had passed while her and Noin had been talking. She knew that there were plenty of things to do, but for the moment, she just wanted to spend some more time with a person who could understand the situation she was in.

Noin was looking like she was getting ready to leave, but Relena quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back to the bed.

"Don't leave yet Noin; just wait a little bit longer, please?" The older woman looked back, and could understand why she would want someone with her. She had been isolated from everything she knew and loved for a good while, finally being around those things again must seem like a dream…

"Alright Relena, I'll stay for a little longer." Time passed, and Noin watched as the brightest hope they had swiftly fell asleep. It was good to see that when she dreamed she could smile. It lightened the pain she felt to know that even through all this betrayal and hate that her and those spectacular young men were still able to remain so pure. It certainly made her more secure in the fact…

* * *

Heero looked at the screen in front of him, the system that was being displayed before him was more complex than anything he had every seen. The cockpit system named ZERO. He had messed around with it only twice before, once when he had first ran into the system, and another time when he had copied off apart of it and let Quatre use it. Aside from those two times, the only contact he had ever had with it had been direct.

The information and data that had been displayed to him across the possible outcomes in battle had been massive; he still saw it as a miracle that he had been able to overcome the influencing pulls of the system itself. Memories that had been pulled up by the system had stayed in his mind for so long, from the images of the little girl and her dog, to Relena giving her most memorable speech ever. Flashes of memory passed before him before he finally cut the link to the system.

It's not that he needed to be desensitized to the system, it wasn't something that you ever lost the…feel of. Even after so long, some of the effects of the system still stuck with him; the constant calculating for one thing, that had never left him. His enhanced senses were made even more so by the knowledge of such a system. It disgusted him. A virtual demon that could toy with the souls of humanity, it was the cruelest of jokes.

Sitting back in his chair, he tried to relax, releasing muscles in his body that were still tense. It had been non stop work since they had gotten here. New designs were being drafted already, and the people here had been working nonstop to have suitable appliances waiting here. There would have to be a couple of missions that he and the others would have to take care of himself, but for the most part, all they had for the moment was to plan what would be the next couple of moves they would make.

Having Quatre with them here was a good advantage, since his sisters were able to provide information for them from all over the earth and colonies. The corp. was also a good stockpile of information, not to mention the leftover remnants of the Preventers agency. It hadn't taken long to lean that the fallen organization had quickly been reformed by Lady Une into a full scale rebellion/information organization. It was no surprise to him to learn that she had survived; it was almost as if nothing could stop that woman's resolve to bring about the true dream of Treize.

"It looks like everyone's burning the midnight oil." Heero looked up at Zechs as he walked into the room. The old…events still harbored some emotions to come up, but his respect for the soldier in front of him and past being past helped to cool over those emotions.

"There's no one else that I can trust to do this." It was obvious what they were talking about. The Zero was the one thing that the two of them knew they could let no one else every get near. It was most likely the darkest thing they could reintroduce the world to, but it was looking like they had no choice but to do it.

"Understood." With that they both sat down. The conversation they were about to have would be a long one. It was good that everyone else was busy, because the comparative visions of the Zero system were not something that anyone else needed to be privy to.

After all of their hard work, after all of the sacrifice to maintain the peace that they had fought so hard to obtain, even after removing both of them from society, a future that the ZERO had anticipated had still come to be; they were going to have to figure out what they had done wrong, and then see any possible way to change it with as little blood shed as possible. And that seemed near improbable…

* * *

Well, that's chapter seven. I have a strong suspicion that my chapters should start getting longer and longer as I have more of the story to tell and relate. I know most of you most likely hate me for the cliff hanger I'm leaving you with, but believe me, it was needed, and you'll see why soon. I would also like to point out that although this is being told from a predominantly Heero/Relena POV that there will be times when I will write from other characters as the story see's fit. I know in my last chapter that seeing Catherine used in that context was ind of weird, but you'll have to forgive me. I'm doing the best I can to take already developed characters and bring them past a point where I can begin to farther the development that the show began. I hope you'll bear with me on this.

And if you have it in you, please excuse the big time lapse that exist between my updating. My life is slightly busy, and I do the best I can with these updates.

I remain always, however,

Divinitas Intereo

* A big thanks to 2ScarletRibbons for seeing the mistake and letting me know. Again, appreciate it.


	8. Ghost System

A system had predicted their future. That thought was one that irritated him to no end, was humanity just that predictable, or was the system just that accurate? Either way, he sat across the only other man in the Earth's sphere that could help him to figure out the answers. They were bonded to each other by the taint that the Zero system had left on the both of them, and each time the memories of the possibilities that they had seen came back in a rush it was all the more reminder of the taint that the system had was one that could never be cleansed from either of them.

There had been a point where he had been so blinded by the systems clarity that he had once sought to make the world pay for their sins. "It was the strong Earth that created the weak colonies…" The words still rang in his mind at times, but he never regretted any of the actions he had taken. They had been the ones that had led to the eventual salvation of mankind…or so he had once thought they had. It appears that there were still weak people in the Earths Sphere, weaklings who depended on the strength of their weapons rather than the one that emanated from the human will to fight. It disgusted him. He had once made the remark that he was a true soldier, and it remained true up until the end of the life of the man that had been known as Zechs Marquise.

All the reveries he was currently going through in his head were back lashing upon walls of other memories, ones that seemed impossible for him to have, yet they were present in his mind, and so he had them. Seen thorough his eyes…

"Was there ever a time that something the system predicted was changed…" The poised question hung in the air for a moment. It lingered for a few moments before Heero looked up and took the initiative to answer.

"That I can remember, there was only one instant where Zero had practically been blind." Moving into a comfortable position on the chair, Milliardo listened intently. He would have never thought the system could be blinded, and so this was something rather interesting to him.

"It happened back in the final battle, when I was fighting Wufei. It wasn't like the time when you and I had fought and the two systems had simply overloaded themselves, this was distinctive, the ZERO had drawn a blank from all possible futures, and it wasn't able to produce anything other than its own blindness." It was interesting; the system had been placed in a situation where it had been truly and completely blind. It was more than interesting, it was astounding. What those who knew of the Zero had never understood about the system, those who had studied it, was that it was not only a system that predicted and calculated the battles presenting its user with the information in a rushing moment of clarity with the future being shown, but it also merged with the mind that was using the system at the time. It could be said that the system, when merged with a human mind, had the adaptability and capability to become something very near…human.

It wasn't something that he liked to contemplate, but when it had been exposed to the two of them, it had begun creating images, and the systems had shared images between the two, that or humanity was screwed because even with two completely different units and systems, it had come full circle.

They had not been shown exactly what had occurred, some things were different, and others had yet to still come, but from what he knew, the system had predicted that after a certain amount of time that a unity would occur that would hold a bearing to no one. Born of fear that the factors that had stopped the previous people from the completing their goals, they would efficiently and effectively crumble all resiliencies. That had been a basic outline of what had happened. The organization had moved swift, but when he had returned to the world from having exiled himself on Mars he had recognized it for what it was: just another result of a machine manipulating the souls of human kind.

"So it has a weakness, we just have to figure out what it is and extort it." Or, that was what he hoped would be possible. It was a bit more difficult to do than to speak; something which was ingrained in him.

Heero looked into what seemed to be a void in his own memory before he saw fit to share his thoughts.

"Is it really the system?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Straitening up, Milliardo leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. Was it really the system…The thought cleared up instantly upon retrospect, but it would be better to hear it explained over for him.

"Our extensive use of the Zero in war has provided it with limitless scenarios to work with, and not only that, but it was also provided with the two of us." Which went without saying the it had at one point had the two most dangerous warriors in existence to feed off of; one a soldier fighting for the end of all wars, the other a betrayed prince fighting for the destruction of the strong the prosperity of the weak. In retrospect, it had a full view of every side that had existed since he knew that more than just the two of them had been exposed to the system. Oz had conducted multiple tests with the system, not to mention that all the other Gundam Pilots had been exposed to it, one of them going mad while doing so.

"We both know that Zero projected personal as well as public futures to us. Your actions on Libra are proof enough of that, and we can assume that at the time when the system was blinded that it was not only because of the chaos of the situation, but also because it had no true data to work on.

"The combative side of the Zero was working perfectly, but its ability to reveal a humans path in life was completely inactive. I have to think that if it had been exposed to one of the girls' soldiers, or the girl herself, it would have been able to predict the course with more certainty.

"When she had staged her attack on the ESUN I had thought that the vision provided by Zero had come to pass, but that was soon voided for the simple fact that it hadn't followed any of the guidelines that Zero had drawn out, so I would like to think that Zero had never come into contact with anyone who had known about Traizes' daughter."

It was an almost crazy theory to even contemplate, yet when spoken out loud and viewed from all corners, it almost seemed logical. They were providing the Zero system with the needed data to create some variable future, and in seeing it, actions were being taken that led to that future, but by whom?

"How sure are we that there were only two copies of the system around during the war?"

It hadn't occurred to him to think about this. When Heero had shown up with Epyon he had assumed that by some twist of fate that the Zero had simply been accidentally replicated, and yet that didn't seem possible. Quatre had created the Gundam with the system, or better yet he had assembled the first Gundam.

"Aside from the copy that was in Epyon, I was always convinced that mine was the only other one. It was a shock for me when I experienced the same system in the Epyon that had been in Wing Zero."

Motioning for Heero to move away so he could get to the computer on the desk, Milliardo opened the screen to be greeted by an 'Access Denied' message on the screen. Looking back at Heero he motioned for him to come unlock the computer. It took only an instant for the pilot to type in the password, but Milliardo could have sworn that between the cipher and numbers the letters R E L N A had been typed, and the E hit twice. Either that or he had a slightly overactive imagination.

Opening up to the files of the computer, Milliardo quickly accessed the file labeled ZERO. Opening up to the host program, he watched as the information flashed in front of his eyes. Looking through the coding of the system would provide very little, but it was a start.

"Were you pilots ever told who created the ZERO System?"

"We never had the time to ask, and Quatre never really told us how he got a hold of the system in the first place. I'm sure if we were to ask him now he wouldn't be too sure of himself, since he wasn't in the best place when he built Wing Zero."

It was almost what he had expected. The coding in the system, plus what Heero had just told him, along with the theories they had been discussing were falling into place. If he could just find what he was looking for, then maybe he would be able to make some sense of the mess that the world had become.

It took a little bit of time, and complete silence, but he found exactly what he had been expecting to find within the coding of the Zero system.

"It's just as I expected."

Heero took a look at what Zechs was seeing and nodded in confirmation. A small but important piece of the puzzle that this fiasco was had been found. Now they had to figure out how it fit into the big picture.

* * *

Duo jumped up from the bed, pulling the gun and turning off the safety as he woke from hi dream. Taking a calm moment to look around and make sure that what he had just dreamt was a dream, he leaned back into his bed again. Sleepless nights weren't uncommon for anyone, but the number of nights he sometimes went without sleep was ridiculous. He shook his head, noting the extra noise it made against the pillow, trying to shake the images out once more. His life wasn't exactly the picture perfect one, and having the history and future he had wasn't something that made things any easier.

Trying to close his eyes and loose all the thoughts that had been in his dream, he almost moaned in annoyance over the fact that the images wouldn't leave his head. Finally deciding that he would get no sleep here, he grabbed his blanket and pillow, carefully keeping his right arm free, and left the room he had been assigned. Like most of the other soldiers, he was assigned a bunk, a blanket, and a pillow, but unlike most he was also assigned his own room. From what he had seen of the others, most of them had their own rooms too, either because the soldiers here were too star struck to be in the same room, or because it made them uneasy to be sleeping in the same room as a Gundam Pilot. Either way, things had worked out the way they worked out, and there was no use in dwelling on things that were pretty inconsequential.

Making his way threw the hallways; he didn't let the coolness of the place get to him. One of the main reasons this was possible was because he was semi fully dressed, the classic ministers uniform he wore was slightly wrinkled, but it had become second nature to be ready for any eventuality, plus his teachers had been very harsh on him the one time he had failed a trail course for forgetting to sleep with pants on. Either way, he didn't stop his walk until he was in front of the door he had been walking to.

He was lucky that there were not a lot of people that had time enough to spare to hang out in the sleeping quarters, otherwise they would have given him a weird look as he sat down leaned his pillow up against the way and covered himself with his blanket. They most likely would never understand why he was here, and for the most part, he sometimes had trouble understanding why he would do this, yet his nightmares didn't involve his death, nor did they involve the torturous things that plague most soldiers mind. No, his nightmares involved the loss of the single thing he could not live without. Her, although the dreams altered and changed, one thing remained consistent: he would live, and she would die. That was his worst nightmare.

The first couple of times he had done this, he had startled himself. Originally he had no idea what he was doing, but then he noted that if anyone wanted to get to her it would have to literally be over his dead corpse, and so this usually gave him the best sense of security. She had woken him from his light sleep that first morning by laughing. He could only imagine how it looked, and was slightly embarrassed. The thought that she might have taken it as a joke, however, had never crossed his mind, and so for the first time he had been able to play it off as such one. She kidded him about it that first day, talking about how "Someone had left an abandoned puppy at her door." It was great fun for a little.

It wasn't until when she found him a couple of more times at her door in the morning did she realize what he was truly doing. He still remembered the tears in he eyes when she learned his "joke" was actually something far deeper than that. He remembered the reflection of himself he saw in her eyes, the slightly haunted look he'd had. Although he tended to play the jester a lot, things still managed to creep by; things had managed to be ingrained in him that he would never be able to let go of. On nights when his dreams were bad he would do what always made him feel better after one: come guard his dreams from anything that might try and take them away.

Making sure the gun had its safety on, he was only slightly surprised when the door opened beside him and she walked out of the room. She, unlike him, was dressed in a tank top with some PJ pants and slippers on; her cover was wrapped around he shoulders protecting her from the cold. As she looked down at him, she had a slight smile on her face; all he could manage was a weary grin back up to her.

She closed her room door and sat down beside him, snuggling up to him as he instinctively wrapped his arm around her. The bond between them was something he had never experienced before, and it was very precious to him. Although they were not exactly an item, it didn't bar their feelings for one another, and she was as clear on them as he was.

"Couldn't sleep?"

Her voice wasn't particularly sleepy, but it still dragged a little, and he could tell that she had that lazy smile on her face as she asked her question. He loved it.

"Nah, I decided that instead of dreaming I'd just come and live it."

She hugged herself, his cover wrapping over the two of them, he couldn't help but smile and he knew that she was smiling to herself. He would make the entire jest he could, and she would play along with them, humor him, because she understood him. She didn't need him to let her know he had been having his dreams again, somehow, she always knew when he wasn't in the best of shape, and so she was always waiting for him.

"Seems like a good dream."

She whispered it up to him.

"The best ever."

He whispered back, his lips slightly brushing against her forehead as he showed one of those rare moments of his affection. He may have claimed to be a God of Death, but he knew for a fact that she was his redeeming angel.

* * *

He looked over the work the mechanics here were doing. Everyone was contributing so much, and still they were lacking for a lot that they needed. His heart crumbled whenever he looked into a face and saw that slowly, their resolve was dwindling down. He couldn't help himself, the sense of wrong he felt from everyone was almost too much to bear at times, and he could only hang onto his sanity because of the worthiness of the cause he was fighting for. It was late in the night, and although most of the people who had command duties had passed them over to their replacements, he still oversaw the people here.

It wasn't that he felt he was the only one who could do the job correctly, or that his overseeing did anything more than anyone's else would, he just liked to know that he was able to hold the burden off of someone else, if only momentarily.

When he had arrived here, the Maguanac's has been very happy that he had arrived, and Rashid had expressed how happy he was to see that he had made the trip safely. The commander had also expressed his own feelings of rejoice, and had captured him that first night to discuss the current situation, and to also speak of matters that were not of importance, but that did make for light and easy conversation. One of those matters had managed to make him more than a little uncomfortable, such as the fact that he was still unmarried, but he knew that it was all in good humor. He had promptly asked where he could best be used and, although slightly reluctantly placed, had been placed to help over see repairs and modifications to the small number of mobile suits they had.

He was happy for something to do, to contribute something more than the little tid bits of information he was able to gather because of the work other people were doing. It also relieved his mind of thinking of matters that he considered better left unsought. That and it also put him in the direct vicinity that if something should happen, he would be where he could keep most people from danger, in a mobile suit.

"My my Mr. Winner, you do tend to take the phrase burning the midnight oil to an extreme don't you?" He didn't have to guess who had spoken as he turned around, clip board in hand and saw Dorothy walking his way. A slight smile touched his face as he noted that on the desk not too far away an old lantern was actually burning away, a soft glow increasing the light around that particular area.

"Not particularly, I just had a few things that I didn't finish up in time." And he noted mistake number one as she walked over to him and took the clipboard out of his hands. He was a terrible lair when it came to matters like these, and she knew it. After everything had been said and done with the two of them had managed to garner a friendship, and had even become silent business partners. The more than usual interactions and Dorothy's overly inquisitive nature had caused her to be able to discern things about him that impressed him. She was still able to shock him, although the smug look on her face was not smirking for the fact that she could though.

"An order for sensory parts and some slight repairs to unit M-10 is keeping you working overtime?" She smiled as she walked over and placed the clipboard on the desk, sitting down and typing some small things onto the keyboard. In moments she was moving back towards him, walking with that smug look that she had when she thought she had done something particular witty.

"There now, all you exhaustingly important work is taken care of." She smiled sweetly as she stood at her full height looking at him. She was an imposing figure at times, and she could even stare down most of the maguanacs, an impressive feat to say the least.

"Umm, I guess I can get some rest?" He asked with a slightly nervous smile, and she nodded to him as she slowly glided away, her cool calm demeanor never once losing its allure. Shaking his head slightly, he decided not to risk her coming back and made his way over to his replacement. He let the man know he was turning in then made his way to the room he shared with Abdul.

Lying down, he was only able to rest after a few moments of hopeless worry over the entire situation they were in. A few staggering thoughts, however, were spared for those thoughts which he had wanted to avoid. Wing Zero, and the Zero System.

* * *

So, there is chapter 8, I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I thought it was pretty interesting to go more into the other characters in this chapter, and also show some new POVs while I was at it. I got to do some of the interactions I had been wanting to do for the longest time, and I also got around to starting some of the subplots in this fic, see if you can't easily point them out. Oh, and this was split into a two part thingy, since I don't want too many POVs in the same chapter here at the start, most likely there will be tons later on, but for right now, we gotta stick to a small number of those. Sorry, the other part will contain Wufei, Trowa, and other peoples POVs, so be looking forward to that.

Well, Read and Review, it really does help.

Divinitas Intereo


	9. Unyielding Ties

The map was slightly outdated and a little damaged, but it still showed a very efficient strategic outlook of their current position. Although to say that they were in a very strategic position at all would be an overstatement. They were in the middle of an Indian desert, surrounded on all four sides by possible enemies, and for all intensive purposes they were at the mercy of their aggressors should they decide to attack. It was a difficult position to be in, and one he was not used to. Although fighting a losing battle was what had characterized them in their past, it could no longer do any good. Word's like Justice and Integrity were becoming lost in this world, and here he was, watching as it happened right before his eyes; and he was powerless to stop it. It sickened him. Memories not long forgotten were too quickly remembered, and he had to ensure himself that he was not that same person. He was no longer just a soldier who did as was ordered. He fought, this time, for more than just the idealism of peace that they had, for a time, achieved. He strove to attain the realization of a dream that had been carried by them when all other forces oppressed and hunted them. Was his strength enough though?

His memory drove him back through time as he thought back to the first attack. He had been completely powerless to do much more than run, run as those who depended on him sacrificed themselves to make sure that he would live to fight another day. His reluctance had been great, running had not been his first choice, and if not for a very strong tranquilizer, he would most likely not be breathing at the moment.

Letting out a soft breath, he rubbed his eyes, and cleared them of the slight perspiration that had appeared. He had no fear of his own tears. To deny the tears of loss to those who were wrongly persecuted was the true shame. This, however, was not the time for tears. The others of the group were putting themselves to the most effective use they could be put to; even Maxwell had managed to do something useful, which was impressive. He could not allow the others to carry the load so lightly, and so while he had been here, he had been strengthening the core defenses of this place. Most of the staff that was present had at one point been a member of Oz, White Fang, or the Earths Alliance, and so they were spoiled in provisional use. It had taken some harsh criticism and some slight diplomacy from Winner in order to make them see that they were effectively treating this too much as a well supplied base. They were not used to harsh conditions. Most of them failed to see that the acquisitions of their supplies were not done in a very conventional way, and so they could not afford to waste a single necessity.

Food, water, clothing, and weapons were not watched and monitored very closely. Although they were doing very well at the moment, they had to be able to switch over to a structured rations system with backups in place at any moment should the need ever arise. He had already become infamous for being a little edgy, but hopefully those who left angry at him at times could see that what was being done was needed.

Typing in a few commands to the laptop that had been given to him, he sent the files to the desk of the Corps. Commander. After doing that he sat back in his chair and looked more intently at the map. There had to be more ways to effectively defend this place, and there had to be more things he could do to help the current change. If only he could discover them…

"It's a little different when it's more than just a ship and a handful of pilots isn't it?"

She had a knack for doing that. More than likely she was one of only three people who could consecutively sneak up on him. She had been around him far too much, and had learned his habits too well for his personal liking—yet there was something about her that usually helped him think in a more effective way. After all, they had been partners for almost five years now.

"I believe that's obvious woman."

A slight frown set into her face as she sat in the chair next across from him.

"Oh come now Wufei, we're not going through this one more time are we? I know you feel that calling a superior officer by name is not right, but you more than have my permission to use my name."

The frown was quickly replaced by a smirk as she saw his eyes widen a bit at that. It had been like a continual game of cat and mouse between them. He had a very grudging sense of respect, especially for women, and it had been a long system of pranks and jokes in order to get him to use her name. Of course, every now and again he would revert back to his ways, and so she made it a personal goal to have him repent each time.

She couldn't swear to it, but she was sure she heard the words, "Blasted woman" whispered under his breath before he exhaled and set up strait. She did her best to try to keep things light between them, but it was very difficult, and he was still a little upset at the fact that she had been the one to put him out when they were escaping England. The man held a grudge better than anyone she had ever known, and he was not one to let them go lightly. It was almost like talking to a rock half the time, except this rock was a slight sexist.

"Jokes aside, are you sure you aren't overdoing yourself Wufei? Everyone here knows that you barely take breaks to sleep, and you're harder on yourself than anyone else…"

He let it hang in the air for a minute. She could get under his skin with her jibes, but she was also the only one that could see into him as well.

"Truth be told, I'm exhausted. But we don't have time to rest. So we've made it here. Big deal, there is no safe haven, only a safer one than the last. No guarantee exist that this place will be here to protect us for forever, and we haven't the weapons to do anything at the moment."

And there it was. That's what had been bothering him. She had suspected as much, from past dealing and all, but she had wanted to hold her tongue on the matter. It seemed that it would be impossible though.

"Wufei, none of what's happened is your fault. There was no way anyone could have predicted that this was going to occ--"

"That's it!"

She was shocked at his interruption, and slightly agitated. Usually he had better manners than this, and he knew when she was about to do something that was heart to heart. He wasn't as closed up as before, and he had grown into a man, something that was not unexpected by her. She knew how he regarded her, and the same could be said for him. It wasn't possible for some tensions to not exist, but still, it was rare when he had actually interrupted her from one of her usually helpful speeches.

"What's it?"

"Prediction, I can't believe I didn't see why they had brought that monstrosity along in the first place, and I was the one who curried it here!"

The puzzle pieces clicked in her head as he was talking and she got up from her chair as the idea hit her full blast. If there was anyone in the world who could have even had an inkling of what was going to happen, it would be him; rather yet, them. She could see the look on Wufei's face, and could tell was his mental track was leading him down.

"Wu, don't go making any rash decisions or rationalities here. We don't know the full facts yet, and if we're thinking the same thing, then I suggest we go and see the source of our intrigue."

He nodded swiftly and quickly stood from the chair he had been sitting in. Grabbing the Preventers coat that he carried with him as a sign to all that looked at him, he made his way for the door.

"Like hell we don't know the full facts but I inten--"

He stopped speaking as he felt the needle pierce his skin. He knew it was already too late, and his natural exhaustion prevented him from being able to fight off the sedative that had been shot into his system. As he turned around to catch a glimpse of her, he saw that she had a slightly embarrassed, slightly worried smile on her face. Before he blacked out he muttered something that registered as an incoherent thought…

She watched as he fell to the ground, and when she was sure that the sedative had taken its full effect on him, she caught him before he injured anything. She was sure she'd heard the words "Damned onna" escape from his lips as he drowsily slipped into sleep, and that made her smile. He was always over working himself, but never more than recently, and that had caused him to be very impulsive at times. Although she didn't doubt what he was thinking, she knew that he was in no condition to approach the topics that he was going to with those two.

There was no stopping what would happen later, but for now, he needed his rest. No matter how angry he would be at her for doing this, she knew it was the right thing, and somehow, she knew he did too.

* * *

Jumping down from the shiftily crafted tight rope and performing a series of complex acrobatic maneuvers, he landed on the ground and bowed before the small applause that he received from the watching civilians and staff that were present. Catching his breath, he stood as the finale of the act took place. On queue, Catherine let loose a barrage of knifes at him. Instead of standing still and letting them simply go into something behind him, they had upgraded this act to be a bit more daring. Timing the knives speed perfectly, he pulled out the concealed shield that he had made and caught each one of the knives in a sequence. Showing the following star that was crafted, they received their applause and bowed out of the hanger.

He was slightly out of breath as they reached the hallway that lead to the rooms they had been given to use as a changing station for this act, but all he could do was have a very, very slight smile on his face. This entire idea had been Catherine's. At first it had seemed slightly foolish, but when Quatre had spoken of the low sense of morale around the place, he had agreed that performing for them would be a good way to help, and so with permission from the Commander, they had begun having small, but entertaining shows.

As he looked over at his sister, he could tell that she was happy to be doing this again.

"That was great timing Trowa."

He smiled at her as she said that, the small amount of praise always felt good to get.

"You too."

He knew she was fine with that. Although time had passed, he was thankful for the fact that she head learned to know when he truly meant something. Of course, the smile he received from her was very reassuring for him. He knew that the events that were happening were occurring rather fast for any of their liking, but it was a pace the Catherine was not used to. Having to leave the circus that she had been with for most of her life had been a hard thing to do, and then being cast into a position which she had never even thought of being in was something the he had feared might overwhelm her, but she had managed to hang in there.

It didn't take long for them to change out of their performing uniforms, and when they exited, he could tell that she was exhausted. It wore on her, the new stress of this kind of situation, and it pained him to see her like that.

"You should go get some rest Cathy, you look tired."

She smirked at him as he said that. It seemed like a very brotherly thing for him to say to her.

"Watch it kid, I'm still the older one here."

That was a good sign, at least she could joke, when he had arrived, she had been flustered for some time. He had attempted countless times to spend more time with her, but between the shows and doing whatever else he could to help around the base, that time was stretched to a very thin amount. He knew it must have been odd for her to have been here all by herself, but even with the others here, she seemed to keep more to herself, and he noted that the others were usually around Relena more than not. He wondered if that had something to do with it.

A little smirk satisfied her as they went their separate ways. Before going to his room however he made a quick stop over somewhere else. He knew that it was late, but it was something that he really needed done. He hoped she would understand.

* * *

Catherine sat in her room alone, on her bed, her knees held up to her chest. It was great to have the small act that they did, it helped her to feel more at home in this place, but it was still hard for her to feel like she belonged in this place. Aside from the small act that she held, there was nothing more that she could do. It was sad to admit, and she knew it was out of some self pity, but she felt useless. Her duties before the others had arrived had been relieved of her, and she had been more than happy to see that happen, but now that left her alone and isolated most of the time. Unlike the rest of the people here, she didn't have any militaristic background what so ever, and so there was nothing she could really do. A sigh escaped her as she sat back against the wall.

She knew that she was worrying her dear younger brother more than she should, but there wasn't a thing she could think to do about it. Everything in this world was so different than from what she knew. The occasional talks with Rashid were entertaining, and they did provide for some company, but that was it. They weren't occasional enough…

She jumped as a knock on her door surprised her. It was pretty late at the moment, and there was really no one who came to see her so she was surprised that someone was here. Trowa had mentioned while they were changing that he was going to get some sleep after they split, so she was sure that it wasn't him.

Spending so much time trying to figure out who it could possibly be, she nearly forgot to answer the door as another soft knock protruded from the door. Getting off her bed and nearly rushing to the door, he opened it to be greeted by the last person she would have expected to see at her door.

"Hello, I'm sorry to bother you so late, but I was wondering if you would humor me with some company?"

At first she didn't know what to say, she just stood there as none other than Relena Peacecraft stood at her doorway. A small bag was clenched in her hands, and a very warm smile was on her face. It took a little mental kicking before her body finally caught up with her mine.

"Ah, I mean, sure."

She blushed at her response as the former Queen of the World entered he small little room. She didn't know wither to feel star struck, amazed, embarrassed that she was in pajamas, or over whelmed by this sudden visit. Then she noticed what the younger girl was wearing. Pink pajamas with little white doves spotted all over it. Her hair was pulled back in a pony tail, and she was wearing pink slippers. For some reason, that managed to calm her, yet she couldn't help but notice the sense of regality that the younger woman carried with her. Even in her pajamas.

"Thank you, I really so appreciate this."

She made no nonsense about acting nervous about being in another's room, in fact, she made herself quite at home; setting down the bag on the bed, she proceeded to pull out the items from the backs. In the course of a very short time, her bed was slightly littered with soft drinks and sweets. With a bright smile on her face, Relena looked at her and motioned for her to come over and sit on her bed. Offering her a snack, Catherine took it and opened it, enjoying the sweet flavor of the snack.

"I'm going to have to be honest; this is very weird for me Miss Relena."

"Please, do me a huge favor and just call me Relena? Please?"

She was so shocked by the pleading tone and facial expression that Relena made, that the only thing she could think to do was respond with:

"Sure, that's fine Relena."

That still felt all kinds of weird; she had just called the world's most revered pacifist by her first name.

"Oh, thanks. It's so hard to get people to stop using the whole 'Miss' thing. I can't tell you what annoys me more, the fact the people feel they can't call me by my first name, or the fact that people wont."

The small rant was so…adolescent. She couldn't help it, she laughed, and she noted that as she started laughing that Relena was soon laughing with her.

"See, I'm more than just those titles and speeches."

She couldn't help but smile at Relena as she spoke.

"Yeah I guess you are."

* * *

Saying good bye and walking away, Relena smiled as she walked back towards her room. It felt good to have actually had a conversation with someone that didn't revolve around the constant struggle that everyone was involved in, and she knew that she had also, in some way, connected very strongly with Catherine. As she turned the corner, she was not shocked to see that Trowa was standing there, waiting for her.

"Thanks for doing this Relena, I know that you must be tired, but I didn't know what else to do."

She smiled at him as they began walking down the hall with one another. She knew he would walk her all the way to her room if she allowed it, but that wasn't the only stop she had planned for tonight.

"No Trowa, it's quite all right. I enjoyed talking with her, and it managed to take my mind off of all the things that have been going on recently."

He smiled at her as she smirked at him.

"That's good to hear."

"If you can, assure her that she is more than free to visit me any time she wants to. I need the company."

She could tell he caught her tone, and he quickly said his goodbye and goodnight. As she watched him walk away, she smiled. She was happy that he felt that he could confide something like this in her, and was glad that should was able to have been of assistance. With her always being counted on to be the symbol that she head become, she was ecstatic that she could still be used for a pick me up between girls. The thought almost made her giddy.

The hallways were less confusing to her now that they had made her study a map of the place. When she had first arrived, she had accidentally caused a slight uproar by getting herself lost for about half an hour, it was embarrassing for her, and hectic for everyone else, and so that had been one of the first things on the check list. She smiled as she remembered being found. The Dumbfounded expression on Duo's face had been so priceless, that Hilde had even taken a picture. She smiled. Little memories like those helped her go on as the days passed by.

Coming to the door that she had been looking for, she knocked softly and waited for a reply. She felt slightly foolish coming here, but Noin had left when Trowa had come for her; something about making sure her brother got some rest. Her heart beat quickened as she waited for the door to be opened. She knew she wouldn't hear any sound on the other side of the door; he was too careful, and conscientious of how he moved for that, so when the door clicked open, she was slightly surprised to see him standing there, looking messy for once. His hair was in his eyes, and his cloths were wrinkles from being slept in. All in all, she loved the look on him.

Blue met blue as they looked into each others eyes. Words weren't needed, they had never really been. He moved aside and let her enter, and she walked in without saying a thing.

Making her way over to the only place to sit, his bed, she sat herself down and relaxed. Maybe her initial feelings would over flood her when they still caught glimpses of each other at random times, but it was these moments that she felt closest to him.

He leaned against the wall as she sat in his bed, her eyes told him everything. No one else saw what he saw. Not Noin, not even Zechs. He saw her and nothing else. Let the rest of the world see the Dove of Peace, the Fugitive who protects the Murderers of 195, the Queen of the World, he only saw Relena.

He could tell she was bothered by the position she was in. The entire world isolated her, and never once considered how she felt about it. Even her closest friends still looked at her like she was a precious thing that couldn't be lost. She was, but to him she was also her. His chest tightened as he thought about that, thought back to Victoria. That had been the last time they had been able to talk. It was all he had allowed himself.

She looked fragile, but still like the pillar that he had come to rely on. Her eyes were tied, and he could tell that she was physically and mentally exhausted; and yet she was here.

Their eyes met once more, and between that the unspoken words that passed between them were conveyed, this time words didn't need to be said. But still, as she opened her mouth to say something, it never escaped. He hadn't closed the distance fast, but he had been clear with his intentions. And for the second time in his life, he experienced what he considered his own personal heaven. Her arms wrapped around his neck, his around her waist.

Spending a couple of moments connected, they soon parted, panting. She laid her head on his chest, listening to his heart beat. She smiled as she cuddled into his chest. His arms were wrapped around her still.

He looked down at her as she lay against him. He watched every moment as she drifted off to sleep in his arms. And when she accepted the sleep that came, simply watched her, not missing a moment. It was like living a dream…

* * *

Hey everyone, how are things going? Here is the next chapter in my ongoing fic, I apologize for the long wait, but I believe that this one was worth it, and now you can see why I split it into a two part thing, otherwise this would have been exceedingly long. Now I know that long chapters make the world go round, but as I said before, I don't want too many POV's in one chapter for right now. Maybe in the future but not now. Now, I hope that you all enjoyed that, and I will do my best to have the next chapter out when I can. Please read and review, I really enjoy the comments and seeing my old reviews helped me to come back and write this chapter, so they do cause inspiration.

Until the next time,

Divinitas Intereo


End file.
